Firstly, I would like to apologize to all the ladies who picked this book to read because the title sounds like a book for men but that is not the case. This is a book for all who want to get free from addictions and repetitive destructive lifestyles. If you find that your life seems to be an endless cycle of the same mistakes or negative occurrences, or you have been struggling with any form of addiction, then this book is for you. You can also read it to gain some insight even if you feel your life is moving perfectly. But frankly, I think all would agree with me that the title “I am not that guy” sounds catchier than “I am not that person”. It is only for the above reason I have chosen this title. So please be kind to me if at first, you thought this book was only for guys.
Indeed, these self-destructive lifestyles and compulsions, as well as addictions and having to live a life of repeating the same mistakes are caused by what we are going to define as strong holds. And this definition will be built around a text found in the Christian Bible.
However, I would like to also appeal to those who do not identify as Christian to not view this book as another religious text. I have come to understand that majority of the writers of the books in the Bible did not identify as Christians either. We have only come to stumble 9
upon their work in the Bible used by Christians. Thus, we would be doing ourselves a disservice to view their works as religious writings.
Most of the writers of the books in the Bible were simply inspired to pen down things that they believed could better the lives of whoever got to read and understand what they had penned down. They were simply just trying to help others live the life that the creator (God) had intended for every human.
If you grew up in a Pentecostal Christian background as I did, then the phrase “strong hold” should not be strange to you. Most times this phrase was used to indicate spiritual attacks from other people on a person. Not that these spiritual attacks could be proven, but for some reason we just believed they exist. Some people who never inherited these kinds of interpretations of the phrase strong hold, but are aware of its existence might for the very first time begin to give thought to this phrase strong hold. This phrase strong holds became popular amongst Christians because of a certain book of the Bible called second Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 - KJV
3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strong holds;)
These verses can be interpreted to mean that most of the challenges that we face as humans are not physical (we do not war after the 10
flesh) so also the weapons that we use to tackle these challenges (warfare) are not physical (not canal). Also, these battles/challenges are against strong holds. This further means that strong holds are not physical things.
It is not uncommon for people to confuse “stronghold’” and “strong hold” as meaning the same thing but on the contrary, they are opposite by function.
Strongholds are places of strong support, or a place strengthened against an invasion/attack/infiltration. This could mean a fortress and a safe place. In politics, a stronghold is simply a place where a particular political movement is certain of support (Oxford Dictionary, 2008). The basic thing to note is that a Stronghold is designed to keep unwanted things and ideas out (from getting in).
But when spelled as strong hold, with a space between the words strong and hold, this implies a firm and tight grip of something with the intent to make it difficult to break free off or to get out.
So basically, a stronghold is designed to keep things out, while a strong hold is designed to keep things in/trapped. Thus, let us put this into the context of our key text from the Bible.
2 Corinthians 10:4 - KJV
4. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
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This is simply saying that most of our battles/warfare in life are against things that are holding unto us tightly or with a firm grip and not letting us be free to live the life God intends for us. Also, since this battle isn’t canal/physical thus these things that hold unto us are also not canal/physical. Therefore, they are holding unto our minds and our thoughts. Since they are called strong holds, this means that they have no intention of ever letting go. We would have to break loose from them (hence it is referred to as warfare).
To fight this battle/warfare against these strong holds, certain weapons/skills are required and these weapons are not physical/canal as stated in our key Bible text. And as stated in the above Bible text, these weapons are already given to us by God/the creator, and these weapons are mighty if we know them and how to use them.
But first, to be able to wage war against a strong hold, you must be able to identify the strong hold. Since it is stated that this whole warfare and its weapons as well as the strong holds are not physical, identifying a strong hold, would require a level of knowledge and understanding that fortunately you will acquire as you read further.
After learning how to identify strong holds, you would also see how they come about in the first place and how they take hold of a person’s mind so that you would know how to prevent more strong holds. And yes, you might be wondering why I have referred to strong hold in the plural, it is because a person can have more than one strong hold in their life although they might not be having the same level of grip, they all are causing their various havocs.
After learning how to live a life that naturally prevents strong holds from taking over your life, then we will address how to overcome 12
existing strong holds and existing addictions (if any) that have resulted from these strong holds.
This means that going forward, this book will be divided into three parts namely identifying strong holds, preventing strong holds, and overcoming strong holds.
The knowledge in this book comes as a result of my own battle with addiction. I promised myself to win that battle and to show others how I won.
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